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December 2006
A Labor of Love
“When love empties itself out,
It fills our bodies full.”
-Donald Hall, US Poet Laureate
The poet is most certainly referring to the moment after lovemaking and as we often say, creation is a labor of love. This morning following our week at The Gatehouse premiering Chapel/Chapter should feel like that moment after lovemaking. So, as I appropriate Hall’s metaphor, I am forced to acknowledge that I don’t in fact feel full, but depleted - satisfied, yes, but still, temporarily depleted.
The tremendous effort on our part to install Bjorn Amelan’s acres of red material, Janet Wong’s evocative projections, Robert Wierzel’s elegant lighting and the energy of the irrepressible dancers wrestling with material that is tough emotionally and physically, as well as Daniel Bernard Roumain’s efforts in leading the musical ensemble in a complex and moving musical accompaniment, made for one of the most difficult weeks we could encounter. This encounter was made more manageable by the tireless contribution of costume designer Liz Prince and the wondrous “missal” created by Real Design which each audience member left with.
And we did it! And people came! And it was written about and discussed in thoughtful impassioned ways! And now it’s over…
Questions remain: what’s next with this labor of love? Its site-specific nature will always make it a challenge to move and remount. Its content as well. One of my collaborators confessed/confided after the fact that - having had a friend brutally murdered some years ago and having never truly dealt with it - the murder in the piece had almost undone her (though she never expressed it as we were working). Even now, as she acknowledges the success of the work, I sense the lingering question: do we as artists have the right to use such stories inasmuch as they are the cool, distant reporting of tragedy and horror? And my response is that we as artists have to trust ourselves and attempt to do the best we can as these stories are with us always and we must find a way to understand them, or at least grapple with what connects us to them.
On another level, there was an undeniable sense of accomplishment within our company’s administration, but likewise in our ongoing relationship with Harlem Stage. Pat Cruz and Brad Learmonth have done a heroic deed in getting the Gatehouse on its feet and commissioning four works; one of which was Chapel/Chapter. Too seldom in this present dance-world can we point to ongoing collaborations such as we have had with Harlem Stage. This collaboration is soon to see fifteen years or so!
And yes, speaking of lovemaking, Spring Awakening had its premiere at the O’Neill Theater the night after we closed at Harlem Stage. For those who can remember the terrifying momentum of desire that lead to their first sexual experience, this ambitious, tuneful spectacle of youth striving for awareness should strike a deep resonances. Producers and those of us in the creative team are mildly shocked at the overwhelming praise the piece has received so far. Let’s see what happens…
-- Bill T. Jones (Friday, December 15, 2006)
